How you establish the water in a container pond will affect how the plants settle and how they grow in the future.
Water to fill a container pond:
- Use rain water in your container pond.
- Tap water contains various additions dependent on where you are in the Country - including chlorine or chloramines.
- Reduce these before the plants are added by allowing the water to stand a week.
- Or use Chlorine Guard - an eco-friendly liquid water treatment of the chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals in tap water.
- Use Chlorine Guard every time you top up your pond with tap water throughout the season.
- Dose at 10ml every time you top up your container pond with tapwater.
- Chlorine Guard is safe for plants, fish and wildlife.
- Include sufficient oxygenating plants in your planting scheme for the size of the container pond so the water will remain fresh and not turn stagnant.
Inhibit algae growth:
- Add Barley Bio Algae Control throughout the Spring and Summer to help inhibit algae growth.
- A concentrated liquid water treatment of the barleystraw control used in larger ponds for many years.
- Use the Barley Bio liquid before any problem is visible - prevention is better than cure so from 1st March onwards.
- One 250ml bottle should last one season if you dose with 10ml fortnightly in Spring and Autumn and 10ml weekly in Summer when the water is warmest.
- Stop adding Barley Bio Algae Control when the clocks change again in October.
Chemical water treatments:
- Please do not use any chemical treatment for green algae or blanketweed.
- These will inhibit the growth of your pond plants and make your container pond dependent on constant applications of that product.
- You will have removed the colonies of beneficial bacteria.
Changing the water:
- Avoid changing the water in your container pond.
- You will be refilling with fresh water that will need to go through the maturing process again.
- Avoid changing the water by maintaining your container pond in Autumn.
- Cut back dying foliage and remove falling tree leaves.
- If the water starts to turn green or grow algae or blanketweed then add Barley Bio Algae Control on a weekly basis and increase the dose rather than empty the container out to start again.